| odd.. |
[19 Dec 2006|12:42pm] |
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I thought I'd posted this, but the LJ powers-that-be might have removed it. I'm keeping this blog, but I'm also running one at http://www.nerdvana.org.au/steve, so keep your eye on that one for fun and Zany. It does get a little technical at times, but stay tuned, it's not like that 24x7
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[15 Nov 2005|11:10am] |
| How to make a stevewalsh |
Ingredients:
3 parts success
3 parts brilliance
5 parts leadership |
Method:
Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little sadness if desired! |
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[01 Jun 2005|10:59am] |
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Ok, most of this post is for my own reference, so if you don't get it, don't blame me, but this little effort of a bumper sticker should keep everyone happy.
Also, this little gem: Illinois man sets fire to house to get guests to leave
People who work in call centres, who have worked in call centres, or who deal with call centres (well, ok, that makes everybody) will appreciate this;
And lastly, I think I've finally found the mission statement for Nerdvana;
and now, back to the geekie blog future reference backup posting stuff. With Things.
Using the netrc(5) file for automating logins, and even simple macros.
machine ftp.machine.com
login ianw
password password
macdef upload
cd /public_html/a/dir
lcd /var/www/a/dir
mput blah.txt
machine ftp.machine2.com ...
Actually, I only found out about this because the Python ftplib code mentions it. So you can do something like
from ftplib import FTP
from netrc import netrc
(username,account,password) = netrc().authenticators('ftp.machine.org')
ftp = FTP('ftp.machine.org')
ftp.set_debuglevel(2)
ftp.login(username, password)
It's always nifty re-discovering something that has been around since the dawn of time_t!
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[13 May 2005|09:34am] |
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mood |
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 angry |
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I'm pissed. I don't mean 6-long-necks-of-stout pissed. I mean You-did-what-now?? kinda pissed.
For those who read my journal (yes two posts below this, don't start, I'm not in the mood), I recently attended the Australian Linux Conference. The people who sent me graciously only asked for a presentation in return. So, real simple, an hour of talking about a conference and I get to attend it. Then. I mention in passing that one of the things my company offers (I'm "contracting" in a permanent full time position where I am working atm, which basically involves me sitting down with one of the managers once a year and deciding if I want to work there for another year, and they decide if they want me to work there for another year. I also run my own IT company, which offers open source solutions to small to medium business) is a clustered web server.
This sounds a lot more advanced than it really is, but basically all it is a few webservers that talk to each other, and when one goes down, another takes over the load. Nice built in redundancy, and the way a lot of people are going these days.
So, their ears perk up at this little gem of information, and they ask me to tack a talk on Clustered webservers onto the end of the conference presentation. I decided to fill in the last 10 minutes or so with a demo, so I drag a few boxes out and start to build the nodes and the host. Usual sort of niggling problems occur, just 2 nodes have this version, and one node ends up with *that* version, which specifically breaks this install of that, etc. Nothing really bad, just irritating.
So, Tuesday I book the video conference and send out the invites. Except it turns out I no longer have the rights to post to this particular list. So I ring up the above said manager and ask him to send it on, then go back to getting things ready. 3 days roll past and I realise I haven't seen an email. I ring and leave a message prodding him to send it on, and get one back 10 minutes later. Telling me they've decided to cancel it, and do I mind terribly doing it in 8 weeks time. When half of IT is in a training course.
I cannot wait until we have our servers in Brissy and I can leave this hell hole.
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| another day, another distro |
[19 Apr 2005|06:51pm] |
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Ok, day 3 of LCA and I haven't done dick to update my journal despite my best intentions. The whole atmosphere here is really good. You can sit down with a laptop and start doing some work, and be in the middle of a conversation with a guy from Sweden, one from Belgium and someone from the US in under 2 minutes. And have a solution to something that's been bugging you for weeks drop into the conversation within 5.
Tuesday's talks were interesting, I was rostered on as a miniconf "yellowshirt" or helper for the education miniconf. Seeing as the Uni sent me here in the first place, I figured it was probably an idea to stick my head in. And am I glad I'm did.
( School Network Server )
( Learning Activity Management System )
( Slipstreamed Ubuntu )
At this point, we broke for lunch, and I caught up with Tim over a plate from the Asian bistro at ANUnion. The less said about the meal, the better.
Over the conversation, we got talking about moving a part of the procedure from using CGI scripts to using a MySQL database, and the idea of moving to a GUI for the server admin side of stuff. Tim seems to like the idea, so I'll be communicating back and forth with him (hopefully)
I then spent the rest of the afternoon doing helpermonkey stuff. There was a dutch guy who had a clone of my laptop, and couldn't get wireless going. That took 2 hours of fiddling and hacking, but we got it going. (Zoidberg)Yay! I'm being useful(/zoidberg)
Spent Tuesday night getting Samba working on the latop so I can get files on and off. Problem I have is I partitioned the hard drive badly, so now I have the decision of what to do to get the other 40Gb partitioned and working.
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| Impressions of a Conference volunteer |
[17 Apr 2005|10:26pm] |
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mood |
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 contemplative |
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So today was my first day volunteering for Linux Conference Australia. Pretty simple job; Being a Professional delegate, I got the Professional delegate registration. Very hard to screw up - check their photo ID, get them to sign the register while I got them their T-Shirt, a program, their name badge and a "Bag-o-Schwag". Some nice schwag in there, thermal mugs, alloy water bottles and a stubbie holder.
I got to hang shit on a Google Developer, who after threatening me with banning my internet address from their servers, relented and registered when I presented him with the internet address for their main server as my own.
I also got to chat briefly with Scott James Remnant, one of the developers for Ubuntu, who make what's known as a "live-CD", or a cd that you can stick in your machine and boot into a working Linux installation without damaging your existing software. It's great if all you have is a machine without a hard drive and you need to run it through it's paces, plus also great for some "Drive-By" hacking. But you didn't hear that from me.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these "loonix" people who extoll the virtues of open source, and bemoan the grip Microsoft has on dekstop and office machines. But I do like to do cool-shit(tm), and one of them is the abilty to install literally any software I want just by emerging it. No licence, no worry about the AFP or MS kicking my door down to do a software audit, no worry about my server being exploited six ways to Sunday.
Plus, sometimes, despite what a lot of people will say, it doesn't "just work" and there is something about making it "just work" that gives me (and plenty of others) a little kick.
On another note, I really hate it when people won't let something go when it puts you in the wrong. I recently used the incorrect term to communicate my feelings regarding the shoes someone was wearing (I didn't think the were suitable for the work the person was doing). I, unfortunately, used the word "inapropriate", rather than "unsuitable". Since then, a few people who I have known for a fair number of years, and therefor can be argued, should know me better, have not let me forget that this was the wrong word. One of them, it seems, takes every chance to rub my nose in the fact I used the wrong word. FFS! I have already explained to these people (bar one, but I can't seem to pin her down due to her uni work) that my concerns were with the suitability of the shoes, not their appropriateness. Get over it, please.
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[08 Apr 2005|11:41pm] |
Ok, thank you everyone for pointing out how slack I am. My last entry was made over 18 months ago. I don't know why (well, ok the 3 months after the last post were wedding related), but I just can't seem to get the motivation to update. It could be that that even though I can make gentoo linux sit up and play ball on a dell laptop (ph34r m3), and I run the network for the uni, I still cannot for the life of me get the windows client to connect.
WTF knows....anyway, I'll try...no seriously, I'll try. Stop Laughing. oh ffs....
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| This is what I get to deal with everyday. |
[12 Dec 2003|12:12pm] |
Original request from staff member in Helpdesk system :
Pam tells me that you are able to extract photos from the ID machine in the ID Centre. Are you able to get photos for me of Xxx, Xxxxxxxx, Xxx, XXXXX, XxxxXxxxx, Xxxxxx and Xxxxx? That would be great.
My Reply via Helpdesk System:
Jxxx; getting photos from this system is not that simple. As there are over 10,000 images stored on it, and they are stored by the Vision systems designation, I will need to individually open each image to find the ones you want. As I am the only person on campus, this will take me most of the next two weeks to get done before we close for christmas and I go away.
Her Reply:
That'd be great. Thanks.
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[27 Nov 2003|11:54am] |
from the log on a Mandrake 9.1 box I've got running Apache 2.0;
I had modified the Apache webserver config to allow another site to run, restarted it and decided to check the logs, just in case.
[Thu Nov 27 10:18:15 2003] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart
[Thu Nov 27 10:18:31 2003] [notice] Apache-AdvancedExtranetServer/2.0.44 (Mandrake Linux/11mdk) mod_perl/1.99_08 Perl/v5.8.0 mod_ssl/2.0.44 OpenSSL/0.9.7a PHP/4.3.1 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Thu Nov 27 10:18:31 2003] [warn] long lost child came home! (pid 23155)
God I hate Computer Nerds sometimes.
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| Oh My Fecking God.... |
[26 Nov 2003|04:58pm] |
Just got a phonecall from one of my Sponsored clients. (Basically, they pay for the the hardware server, software config is free and all site service calls are done out of hours. In return, we get advertising, etc for free.)
Printer won't print. Book keeper is abusive as shit. 4 hours, no invoices, no nothing. She demands I come in for free to fix it. I ssh into the box and check the queue...Nothing. So , CUPS has ripped the jobs and passed them to the printer. I point out that business hours service calls are chargeable, she argues out that printing hasn't worked since I put the server in, so she won't pay for the call. Now, I know this is wrong, cause I've seen print jobs come out of the printer in the last 24 hours.
I drive in, take a look, everything fine with the server, I can see the job leave the PC, arrive at the Mandrake box, gets ripped and passed to the printer. The whole time, this woman is bitching in my ear. It finishes with her telling me to pack the server up and refund them their money. I go to the printer, and check the status display "Load A4, lower tray". I put paper in the tray, 75 jobs roll out. I start to explain how paper helps the printer work and she turns and walks away mid-sentence.
I ring the president of the society, and find out that her contract won't be renewed. Dang nab it,and we were just reaching an understanding.
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| wtf? |
[30 Sep 2003|11:11am] |
Erm....hee hee hee..yeah..well..livejournal...I remember this link
The Court case has finally been settled by Conference. Net result is, I didn't win, but I didn't loose. Becuase teh owner replaced the doors with Roller doors and not tilt-a-doors, I didn't have any grounds to chase the ex-housemate for money. Mind you, he didn't have the grounds to counter-claim against me, cause he did damage to the door.
I offered nothing and we walk away, He counter offered $42 (which I later found out was the cost of petrol for him to get there from Sydney, where he is living now), which the court recommended I accept.
So, that's done. Nothing more to do with the guys, he's out of my life.
Now all that is left is to crush him like the bug he is with my hitsquad.
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| Well.... |
[28 May 2003|09:29am] |
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mood |
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 complacent |
] |
I could say not much has happened, but that's crap. I've
*Moved house
*Dealt with numerous dickheads in Theatre
*Dealt with numerous dickheads outside of Theatre
*Worked on the National Folk Festival for the 6th year.
*Worked on the Australian Ballet's Romeo and Juliet as a Drops Flyman
*Dealt with numerous students.
and
*I've just found out that the ex-housemate who drove into the roller door and buggered off leaving me with the debt is back in Australia after sodding off overseas for 6 months. And here I am with a small claims application ready to go sitting on my desk.
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[14 Feb 2003|09:57am] |
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O-Week.
What fun.
For all those who have attended university, it's like a buxom buffet...You can see the joys of the year ahead, all wrapped up like they are some kind of present to be unwrapped in a drunken frenzy. Then forgotten about next time you meet them at the bar.
Yeah, well, try *working* at a University. No touchie-feelie then. And it seems I always have the ones who look fairly cute, but then have a voice like an angle grinder on Tungsten Steel come to see me about why they email address has to be their student number. And don't listen to a word I say, they just want to vent...and vent.....and vent.
Sheesh. And to top it off, all these are Catholic School girls...and I can't test them for QC compliance.
What crap.
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| Meh...... |
[06 Jan 2003|02:12pm] |
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Yes, I know I've been slack. Lots has happened, some happy, some sad, other, well, I'll try to get off my arse and a 2002: the year in review.
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| what the???...Oh, *that's* what that link does.... |
[19 Sep 2002|11:17pm] |
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hee hee.....ooops...
Yes, I know I said I would try to update this site a lot more, but, well, you get what you pay for.
Well......halfway through September, and it feels like I've still got 9 months left tin the year, not 9 months *done* of the year. I could get all introspective, but I'll save that for the end of year post. Shiteloads is happening at work at the moment..we kinda had our hand forced with Windows XP in the last few weeks, with 15 PC's coming in the door that all exceed the imposed specs of what you need to run XP. I had hoped to get further through the MCP before we had to roll them out, but I am coming to the conclusion that all the MCP does is give you a good grounding in theory, but leaves it up to you to get the practical....which of course you can't get until you get the MCP.
Kinda reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon where the IT guy walks in loudly proclaiming "Stand Back, I'm Certified!". One of my housemates just got his CCNA and seems to be really good at hitting my web server with malformed packets, but doesn't seem to know where a Proxy server falls in the Grand Scheme of Things{tm}. And people wonder why the technology boom is heading downhill, and why guys with half the alphabet after their names can't get jobs.
Not much else to talk about. The two demon spawn housemates are moving out (Partner's cousin and Mr Malformed Packets) at the end of the month, which means we need to find someone for the room for 3 months until Erin's sister moves to Canberra to study. Anywho, in trying to kick a persistive cold, I took some Pseudo ephedrine with some tea, which has just enough Caffeine to make life interesting. I'm going to go to bed and read Pink Elephants....I mean a book.
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[09 Aug 2002|10:15pm] |
Scroll mice shit me. What? I hear you say? How can a scroll mouse shit you? They're so Handy!
Well. Yes they are. It's great to be able to scroll down a page to view the bottom without having to move the mouse, and they're great in CS or Firearms when you need to rapidly change weapons. But. and it's a big but. It shits me when they die. when the debounce for the scroll wheel stops to work. So you scroll what should be 3 lines, and before you know it, the page has shot past where you were wanting it to be, and bounced right back up to the top. And let's not get started on when you're playing a network game. You got the F******r that's been shooting you in the head for the last 9 rounds cause he's got a ping time of 3, so you decide to change from your Big Arse Sniper Rifle(tm) to the pistol to make sure the deed is done, and next thing you know, you've just thrown a high explosive grenade, which has landed at your feet cause you were no where near the door you needed to be near if you where going to kill him with that...And let's not start on cheap arse keyboards with sticky space bars.....
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[29 Jul 2002|10:44pm] |
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Transact VDSL Rocks!
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[19 Jul 2002|11:00pm] |
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mood |
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annoyed |
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Well, what can I say? The first time in nearly 3 months I've been online for longer than it takes me to clear e-mail of a night time. The secure proxy at work is giving me the irites to the point where I am going to be working out a way for me to do a seem less tunnel through it via another proxy.
More of an update soon, cause we're getting VDSL soon.....55mbps.....<>
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[30 May 2002|08:55am] |
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mood |
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 apathetic |
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Well, here we are....I know I've neglected the Journal for a while lately..For all those who have worked at Uni's in an area that interacts with students, you'll know how things can go from a "kick-back-with-a-coffee-and-relax-with-your-feet-up-on-the-desk" to a "oh-my-god-the-world-is-ending-now-complete-with-fire-and-brimstone-just-because-my-disk-is-corrupt"
For those who aren't aware, Erin, my partner got a job down here, so I spent last weekend moving her down here....now we can actually do stuff together at weekends that will take longer than 12 hours...and, shock horror....take advantage of Cheap movie nights, eat out on a Wednesday night, and more!!
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stevewalsh's journal